The soil of this town
is generally fertile; most of it can be plowed, the rocky portions nowhere being
extensive. Large tracts of clay, sand, and loam have by careful
cultivation been made highly productive. Formerly considerable grain was
produced for sale. Wheat was raised with success in early times; in later
years rye, corn, and oats. At the present time hay and fruit constitute
the principal exports. The former is shipped largely to New York by an
arrangement of the farmers themselves,--securing city prices with light expense
for freight. Fruit has been raised successfully, and is now the leading
industry of the town. Large quantities of pears, plums, cherries, grapes,
and berries are annually produced, and are of excellent quality. Freighted
by the river, with but little land-carriage, they reach the city markets in fine
condition. This class of fruit exceeds the apple crop, though the latter
is good.

There
are no manufacturing enterprises of any importance in town. It is a
tradition of the people that, through some management of other interested
parties, the original intended grant of ten thousand acres was changed to six
thousand, and then so laid out as to exclude the Palatines from all the
water-power of Roeloff Jansen's Kill and from any really valuable docking-places
on the Hudson river. Whether this be true or not, it is true that no
valuable water-power is found in town. A saw-mill has been run a portion
of the year for a long time past on the head-waters of a little stream in the
southeast part of the town. The mill is now owned by J. I. & J. Lasher;
they have refitted it within a few years. How near back to the early
settlement the original mill was built is difficult to determine.

There
was also a saw-mill near the present school-house at East Camp Landing.
This was run by Adam P. Clum, a prominent town-officer of early years, and was
very likely built by his father, Philip Clum, in still earlier times.

The
people of the town are thus shown to be mostly engaged in agriculture and such
mercantile and mechanical pursuits as are required for the home trade.
Some of the citizens engage in fishing enterprises upon the Hudson at the
appropriate season of the year. Still others are engaged in commerce upon
the ocean, as seamen, officers, or masters of foreign-bound ships.

The
raising of small fruits has developed into a large business in late years.
The season of 1878 has been unusually favorable both in the abundance of the
crop and in meeting a good market. The results are worth stating, though
far above the average.

It is estimated that twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of strawberries have
been sold this year from Germantown alone, and that four thousand dollars has
been paid for labor in picking the fruit.